My Science School

•  Choice cast-iron cleaners

Both coarse salt and borax (sodium borate) are better for cast iron than washing-up and dishwasher detergents, so use either to get burned food off a treasured pan. Sprinkle the crystals into the pan and scrub with a wet sponge or paper towel. Then rinse with fresh cold water and dry immediately, because cast iron rusts easily.

•  Oil your grill pan

Rub vegetable oil on the inside of a cast-iron ridged grill pan to keep it seasoned — do it after each wash and any time you feel it is necessary.

•  Don’t soak a cast-iron grill pan

Soaking a cast-iron grill pan in soapy water can deplete the fat that seeps into the porous surface and seasons the pan — and an unseasoned grill pan is a recipe for frustration. Food will stick and burn and become almost impossible to clean off.

•  Scrub away scorched milk

If you’ve let a saucepan of milk boil over, it's probably burned onto the stove and filled the air with a scorching smell. Get rid of it by wetting the bottom of the pan — and the stove —and sprinkling it with salt. Let the salt sit for about 10 minutes and then wash the pan as you usually do. The pan and stove will be clean and the odour will vanish.

•  Boil away burned-on food

If burned food won't come off a pan, fill it with water and add a squirt of washing-up liquid and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring the water to the boil and then turn off the heat. After about 15 minutes, discard the mixture and use a scourer or scrubbing brush to remove the loosened material.

•  Two aluminium restorers

When aluminium pots and pans become discoloured after extended use, you can revive the lustre with either cream of tartar or vinegar and then wash and dry as usual.

1. Cream of tartar Fill the pan with hot water and add cream of tartar (2 tablespoons powder to 1 litre water). Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes.


2. Vinegar Combine equal parts white vinegar and water in the pan and simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Note: avoid using alkaline cleaners such as bicarbonate of soda or bleach on aluminium, as they may discolour it further.

•  Rub out rust with a potato

With regular use, metal pie tins can rust. To get rid of rust, cut a potato in half, dip the exposed flesh into scouring powder or salt and rub the rust with your spud 'sponge'.

•  Toothpaste for stainless-steel cookware

If there are fingerprints all over your sparkling new stainless-steel cookware, dampen it with lukewarm water, apply 2cm low-abrasion toothpaste and brush away the unsightly marks. Rinse, dry and you can enjoy your new shiny cookware again.

Credit : Reader's Digest

Picture Credit: Google